GCT Recurrence

Hi there, I have been having my inhibins drawn pretty regularly after my recent mastectomy for DCIS. They have continually risen since that time. Inhibin A is 2.6 and Inhibin B is 77. I just saw my oncologist, who spoke with Dr. Donovan at Baystate Medical who reccommended a PET scan, but he wasn't sure that HMO Blue would authorize it, and the test is $2700! Wow!  I am wondering what others think about this because I am willing to pay for it if my insurance company denies, but only if the consensus is that it will finally give me a definitive answer. I have a need to know whether or not this constitutes a recurrence. I need to have a yes or no answer to be able to deal with it rationally. The maybe/maybe not scenario that I keep getting is turning me into a crazy person!


This discussion is related to Elevated Inhibins.

[TammyStP]

I guess I should clarify...I am an ovarian and breast cancer patient, and my question was regarding tumor markers for my ovarian cancer. They have been elevated since prior to my mastectomy.

[japdip]

Many factors can cause a rise in tumor markers other than a recurrence. I'm not familiar with the norms for the markers you are concerned about but unless the rise is drastic it could very well be due to something else .... medication can often cause a variance in tumor markers. There is a Community that deals with Ovarian Cancer and you might try there for an opinion. Even the PET scan might produce a false positive and many Surgeons and Oncologists alike prefer to depend upon symptoms rather than scans.  Regards ....